I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality

Sutherland, Arthur

ISBN 10: 0687063248 / ISBN 13: 9780687063246

Published by Abingdon Press, 2006

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0687063248I3N00

Synopsis:

Arthur Sutherland places before us our fear of meeting the “other” and the “stranger” in an increasingly global, and frequently dangerous, village. Various social, political, and historical factors have conspired to leave us in a veritable crisis: the decline of hospitality. Why is this a crisis? Why should we practice hospitality? What is it about Christian theology that compels us to think about hospitality in the first place? Sutherland offers a passionate plea to recover and rediscover hospitality, and to respond to the divine appeal to welcome the stranger. Therein lies the central concern of the book: that hospitality is not simply the practice of a virtue but is integral to the very nature of Christianity’s position toward God, self, and the world—it is at the very center of what it means to be a Christian and to think theologically. He offers a challenging definition of hospitality and calls us to a practice that is the virtue by which the church stands or falls. Drawing on modern theologians (including Howard Thurman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Martin Luther King Jr., and Letty Russell) and considering American slavery, the Holocaust, feminism, and prisons, Sutherland eloquently presents a Christian theology of hospitality.

About the Author: Arthur Sutherland is Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola College in Maryland. He has a B.A. from Harding University, an M.Div. and S.T.M. from Yale University Divinity School and a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. His interests are in systematic theology, the history of Christian doctrine, and African-American religious thought.

Bibliographic Details

Title: I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of ...
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Publication Date: 2006
Binding: Paperback
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket